English learning has been popular in Vietnam over the last few decades. Especially, learning English has become a burgeoning need when Vietnam fosters its international relations. Every day an increasing number of people learn and use English for different purposes.
In teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has recently received a great deal of attention. A teacher or institution may wish to provide teaching materials that will fit the specific subject area of particular learners. Such materials may not be available commercially. In addition, ESP courses can vary from one week of intensive study to an hour a week for three years or more with different schools’ timetables and for different training level. For these reasons, there is already an established tradition of ESP teachers producing in-house materials. They are written by the teachers of a particular institution for the students at that institution. This is often something difficult for teachers because few have had any training in the skills and techniques of materials writing; needless to say about their limited knowledge in the specific area. (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987)
In Vietnam, English seems to be learnt and taught in non-English environment, so reading is an important means to get knowledge in ESP, and also a means for further study. In other words, learners “read to learn” (Burn, 1988:11). This is true for the students at Hanoi Community College, where learners are future technical engineers and technicians who learn English in order to be able to handle subject-related written materials in English and to work with modern technological equipment. So ESP materials used at Hanoi Community College now are often reading materials with the topics in the specific area. “Vocabulary learning has long had a synergistic association with reading; each activity nourishes the other” (Coady and Huckin, 1997:2). So if one wants to read ESP materials well he needs to learn ESP vocabulary.